Let’s Challenge Waste & Election Fraud — Together
It’s only Wednesday, and it’s already been a busy week for the Albany Park community. Here’s the latest on our petition to overturn the recent LSC election and CPS’s plans for school resources in the fall.
Election Petition Filed
On Monday, March 30, Unite For Our Schools — Albany Park filed its petition challenging the results of North River Elementary School’s local school council election. In it, we request the election be voided and rerun, or that the candidates who benefitted from the misconduct and irregularities be declared ineligible to serve, seating the next-highest vote recipients instead.
As detailed in our previous post about election interference and misconduct, we have presented a very strong case and expect to prevail. But we need you to join our cause in order to win the long game.
A Partial Win
But there’s more news to share! The very next day, in a meeting with community members, elected officials and school leadership, CPS made it clear that we have already achieved one of our goals: This coming school year, North River will not be allowed to expand into the space vacated by ASPIRA’s closing.
Sadly, they announced that Haugan will be also barred from utilizing the space. So, for the next year at least, overcrowding will still be an urgent issue for Albany Park schoolchildren. And the space that was built expressly to solve that overcrowding will remain vacant.
This may be unfortunate, but it’s still a step in the right direction. After all, CPS had previously made it clear it planned to permanently turn over the whole Leland building to North River. Our community organizing stopped officials from giving neighborhood school resources to a lottery-based, citywide school. For now.
Next Steps
With the overwhelming strength of our election petition, we expect CPS’s law department to hold a public hearing on the challenge by the first week of May. However, evidence of misconduct is still pouring in, and we would love to add your voice to the chorus. If you experienced or heard about issues that had undue influence on the LSC election held at North River Elementary on March 18, please email our communications director at meghanhwhite@gmail.com immediately.
We also urgently need to build our community for the fight ahead of us. Please take a moment to join our email list. We must create a movement that represents the true strength of Albany Park. Just like we come together to fundraise for neighbors in need and walk kids to school when ICE looms in the streets, we have to stand together and force the city to include our voices in neighborhood resource decision-making. Sign up now!